Pleasant Radford, Jr., MBA, CHIE
Health Equity Officer, UCare
Pleasant Radford, Jr. joined UCare in 2020 in the inaugural role of Health Equity Officer. In his role, he develops, oversees, and implements an organization-wide health equity program that promotes and advances health equity for all members and communities. Radford has more than 15 years driving systemic transformation through health equity innovation in the healthcare, nonprofit, and academic sectors. He has proven leadership spanning evaluation, training, programming, policy, and advocacy realms - all grounded in trust-based community relationships - to identify and reduce inequities in healthcare.
Prior to UCare, he led the evaluation of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Center for Prevention's multi-million dollar portfolio of healthy eating, physical activity and commercial tobacco prevention. At UnitedHealth Group, Radford spent four years as a consultant to streamline medical insurance products, increase customer retention and strengthen brand recognition among Medicaid and Medicare members.
Radford is a national health equity leader and speaker who has received numerous accolades and distinctions for his leadership and contributions to the healthcare community, including state of Minnesota appointments to the African American Health State Advisory Council and the Governor's Community Council on Inclusion and Equity and recognition by Managed Healthcare Executive magazine as a 2024 Emerging Leader in Healthcare. In 2023, Radford received the NAHSE Program of the Year for the Heart of Equity podcast, a national podcast that talks with Black healthcare professionals to learn what they are doing to advance health equity in the Black community.
Radford earned his B.A. in Spanish and B.S in Psychology from the University of Illinois and his MBA in Finance from the University of Saint Thomas in Minneapolis.